"Montana"

Ghostly

Artists:

For his fourth album as Tycho, Awake, Scott Hansen evolved his solo ambient musical project into a three-piece band. The difference wasn’t immediately apparent on the title track released back in October; if anything, “Awake” sounded even more single-minded than 2011’s pellucid Dive, reflecting Hansen’s newfound focus on music above his other artistic pursuits. All that changes with “Montana,” a foray into post-rock as expansive as Big Sky Country.

The opening guitar undulations belie how quickly the track picks up momentum, driven by drummer Rory O’Connor (who also performs with electronic musician Com Truise), whose crisp, variegated beat keeps Tycho’s overlapping melodic lines from meandering too far into The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place territory. Still, for the first time Hansen isn’t afraid to show some Explosions-worthy emotion in his work, and “Montana” builds to some throat-constricting climaxes before exhausting itself by the end.